Tuskegee men’s basketball coach Benjy Taylor has filed a federal lawsuit seeking more than $1 million in damages from Morehouse College and two campus police officers, alleging he was unlawfully handcuffed, detained and humiliated after a January road game.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, names Morehouse College, Officer R. Clark and Officer M. Roberson as defendants.
Taylor, 2026 SIAC men’s basketball Coach of the Year, brings federal civil rights claims that he was falsely arrested following the Jan. 31 game against Morehouse College.
According to the 170-page lawsuit obtained by HBCU Sports, Taylor alleges he repeatedly raised concerns during the contest about members of the Morehouse football team stationed along the baseline, who he accused of taunting Tuskegee players and using profanity toward coaches and staff.
Game officials, the suit states, asked Officer Clark to help provide security on the baseline and ensure spectators did not interfere with the Tuskegee bench.
Attorney says detainment was “illegal”
Instead, the filing alleges, Clark laughed and turned his back while the harassment continued and later refused Taylor’s request to remove “unauthorized students” who joined the postgame handshake line.
During the handshake, Taylor contends, Clark chose not to address the crowd-control issue. Instead, he placed the coach in handcuffs in front of “thousands of spectators,” including members of Taylor’s family, before escorting him from the floor “as though he were the most sought-after person in the country.”
“Coach Taylor is a good man who did the right thing to protect his team and de-escalate a dangerous situation and this officer put him in chains for his troubles,” said Taylor’s attorney, Harry Daniels, in a statement. “Colleges and universities are supposed to be an example for our young people and the lesson this example teaches is not only reprehensible. It’s illegal.”
The lawsuit says Taylor was taken to a secure area, where he experienced elevated blood pressure and trauma from the confrontation, forcing him to seek medical attention for what the filing describes as “a direct physical consequence of the detention.”
The complaint characterizes the arrest as “highly humiliating” and says it was widely publicized across the collegiate community, causing significant reputational harm.
Tuskegee head coach Benjy Taylor was handcuffed by police after the loss at Morehouse.
Here’s his statement to @TheFieldOf68:
“I am at a loss for words and I am upset about how I was violated and treated today. For my players, my family and people of Tuskegee to witness that… pic.twitter.com/2AQRNCu1Dd
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) February 1, 2026
The lawsuit further claims Clark and Roberson seized Taylor without probable cause or reasonable suspicion, violating his Fourth Amendment rights. It alleges the officers acted with “willful intent, malice, bad faith, and a reckless disregard for the consequences,” and that their conduct “demonstrated a conscious indifference to the federally protected rights of Coach Taylor.”
The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference fined Morehouse College an undisclosed sum and cited the institution for failing to meet required game security standards following the incident.
Morehouse College is liable under agency and respondeat superior principles for assault and battery and false imprisonment. Taylor also contends the college failed to meet SIAC security standards for crowd control and for ensuring the safe entry and exit of visiting teams, contributing to the circumstances that led to his detention.
